footprints..

Aakash: dude, meri toh lag gayi!..AIEEE se bhi nahi hua.
Me : chal na yaar,xaviers mein ho gaya na..khush reh.
Akaash: abbe tum sab hi-fy engineering colleges mein..main kya karega BSc karke?
Me : dude, xaviers!..hi-fy chicks!..axe land oye..maze!...mera soch..SP!.. gay in a months time.
Akaash: maa kasam dobby saale, school khatam re,baaski gaya,lukkhagiri khatam,sab gaya re. main senti ho raha hai.
Me : abbe woh chod..yeh soch, ab toh woh bhi nahi dikhegi..hahahaha
Akaash: gaurav, abhi kabhi milenge yar?
Okay now on a usual day, i would've laughed out on the fact that my friend's EQ was sharpening, but the fact that he called me by my first name(which no one ever does), made me see where he was coming from.Most of the results post 12th were out, and the thought of never going to the school again, was suddenly taking my stomach for a spin. The farewell just happened a week back. We had a blast of a time i tell you. All of us together,singing,dancing,eating..(the punk n junk way mind you, We were no gentlemen) basically making an ordinary weekday look kickass as we always did when we were together.There was always this sense of pride, an element of euphoria when i was in my shrink,'the BAND' as i usually put it. But this particular conversation was really making me wonder if that was ALL we could manage to pull out that particular day,considering it was probably the last with all of there,together.
I hung up after a consoling session that lasted for an hour, and helped myself to a chair(or maybe it was the sofa,cant recall). There was a weak and forceful smile on my face I realized, trying to make sense of what the two of us had just discovered, trying my best to avoid the obvious fact. "What was that?!" I thought..An hour passed, and another, till i realized it was time the cushion catches up on some air. The seconds kept haunting me the whole day after that, the smile din't go either. Damn! It's one of those things ,you wish was a bad dream you could laugh away the next morning. One of those things, you wish you hadn't thought of in the first place.
The new term was going to begin in a months time, or thats what the University claimed, which meant i had plenty of time to spoil myself. Perfect! I mean, What better way to celebrate your admission(into one of the best colleges of Mumbai) than giving quality time to Basketball, movies, music, sleep! with food pumped in between all of them. lOts of it! I remember watching this hollywood flick, where 2 high school girls and a guy kidnap their teacher, who caught them cheating during an exam. The teacher is a 'love to hate' kinda,unattractive female, and a venomously mean character, and so the trio coerce her, take her semi-naked pics( did i say unattractive?) and blackmail her for their reasons. Oh and yes, there was a mention of "A man getting a sex change operation, and ending up becoming a lesbian"!!..hmmm..and just when the story was shaping up decently well for a spear head climax, my cell rang..."Fasso!"..that would be Abhinav,well thats what he calls me(yeah i wonder too)."Get wasted with your love eeks till that baby fat of yours settles in enough for me to kick!..Get some exercise peahead! Listen,Bakshi,deepu & me playing futti at Eden..you coming at sharp 5!". Now I have this really kewl habbit of NEVER dropping in on time. What's kewler is that my friends have figured that out. We started at 7. After a long,tiring,crampy session that lasted 20mins, i pulled out. Boy, i never thought i'd say this..but i guess abhinav was right. I could feel a planet between my chin, and my legs everytime i bent down ..Anyways we had to stop 'cause the watchman was now blowing his whistel, his pants were on fire. We hit a nearby KFC joint. And happily, since we never had to pay.It was always 'Abhinav' Vs 'The Bill' and our million dollar kid always won hands down. A splendid, lusturous PLATINUM card today!..Awesome! we went for another round.
Nothing different that i remember followed for a couple more weeks. We tried to plan a couple of reunions again, but nothing really materialised. Most of my friends were now busy with their colleges. Some in delhi, many in Chennai, a few abroad. Yes, Aakash was in mumbai. But seemed he was pretty happy in Xaviers. Not a call from him for a week now, guess the axe-land was keeping my friend busy. Good for him. Abhinav, Deepu, Bakhsi were busy with their colleges too. And with that ended our meagre futti sessions, and whatsoever little exercise i had. The only substantial next thing now was going to be my first day at college, i thought.Our lovely Mumbai University however, the 'Maharaja' ofcourse was taking its own season to break the hibernation swear. If the rumour was to be believed, the next week would see the Sardar Patel Institute of Technology eat up another fresh batch of people trying to run the world on nuts, bolts and circuits. Not then, but now weighing the experience lemme tell you, "Its safest to believe in rumours!!"..Engineering through the Mumbai University is like a time-bomb in your pants. You never know when it goes off.. BOOM-BANG..phir matt kehna.."FATTEEEE"!!!So as it turned out, the official announcement was made, and 'THE' day was just a couple of days away..
THE Day ........"Wake up!"..My friends really mean it when they say i should be a little more punctual. It was the first day of college. I felt cold and wet, turned and saw mom, holding a half empty jug of water. I rubbed my eyes, yawned you needn't know how many times, and looked at my watch. The college was supposed to start off at 10am, and it was 9 already. However, despite a rather slow start, i was able to set off from home in 20 mins. The bus i caught, was gonna drop me right in front of the Bhavans gate, as told to me by the bus conductor. It's an hour ride from powai. The journey isn't really smooth, god bless the roads, god bless the BMC. The sky looked beautiful of course. There was a flock of splendid blue coloured birds moving across the sky, forming a V-shape. Now I could blame the breakfast, or the creatively hammered raods of mumbai, but i knew there was something more ardent inside, that was making me feel dizzy all of a sudden.It's one of those things, that swirl you into a semi-councious thought of predicting what lies ahead of you. I was no longer missing the school, and that made it even strange. I looked up, the birds were no longer in sight, they had moved on. A frost-tail current ran through me. I was entering a new world i realised. Maybe it was time for me to move on too. And like it or not, i already was.The thoughts kept me occupied, and sooner than it seemed i reached Bhavans. A light stroll, and there i was standing right in front of the Main gate of Sardar Patel Institute of Technology.
The numbness was fading as i entered, and i felt that adventurous seeking smile on my face again.What happened between the day then, and till today, is something that i would call a lunatic documentary, my second life. Something that would(take my word for it), need another season to put together in words. Something.. i would lovve to share, maybe in near future.